The latest Victoria’s Secret promotional video revolves around their endless holiday campaign (you know, the one where the company annually sells that multi-million dollar bejewelled bra), and it’s such a devastatingly charming experience that it’s difficult to walk away disliking these chicks. Case in point — supermodels (are they all technically Angels?) Miranda Kerr, Doutzen Kroes, Candice Swanepoel, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Erin Heatherton (plus a few others) pretend to decorate a tree while wearing impossibly tiny lingerie from the VS winter 2012 collection, and a few of them try to sing in the process. It’s a very simple video but worth several laughs.

Hilarious, right? Honestly, if I had to judge singing voices (if that is a relative term), I think that Miranda Kerr does the best out of all of these models. Also, she seems to have a grasp upon the lyrics, which is more than what anyone can say about the group as a whole. Does this video make you like or dislike the Victoria’s Secret models more or less? I think it keeps things at an even keel.

Yeah but you can’t really judge the intelligence of girls like Doutzen who are trying to sing a song in what would be their second (or maybe even third, fourth?) language, all whilst trying to concentrate on looking “sexy”.

most likely this is deliberate marketing strategy imo, the girls are probably as smart and able as any random person, but the VS suits tell them “hey look dumb and cute!”
you’re right, doutzen is belgian, so that would make english her third language after flemish and french

Well said, Skipper! The day we start fretting over the racial/religious/equality of VS models in a schmaltzy, sick-making advertising video is the day we should take a long hard look at ourselves and re-evaluate our priorities. Merry Christmas to one and all!

“nice to see the models as actual women” … and what planet have you just arrived from, Tulip? I always wear skimpy underwear when I decorate the tree, usually while belting out my favourite Christmas carol … good grief!

LOL! Oh dear God, no, they don’t look like real women who eat and pay the bills! But I just think of the VS angels as barbie dolls that are locked up when not in use. They’re “things” usually and aren’t usually allowed to talk. So to hear ANY words was a step closer to them being more “real” rather than animated bits of plastic.

Yes! In fact aside from the 90′s models that made a name outside of modeling… heidi, linda, tyra… they are so generic and interchangeable, but I guess that’s the point. Out go the old and in come the young.

If it wasn’t for who these women dated or married I would never know their names.

That’s the kind of blanket statement that just makes my blood boil. “Men” do not prefer dumb women. “Dumb” men might. “Men who want to feel smarter than their woman” might. “Men just looking for gratification” might. But to say “Men” prefer dumb women is an insult to all of the men who don’t.

Some guy at work one told me that I should stop trying to do everything myself because men want something they can take care of. So I said back to him I bet there are guys who want a girl can take care of herself.

See, OriginalKitten, that hasn’t really been my experience, but your statement is important-you’re speaking YOUR truth, which is what we all should be doing. My husband and I divvy up responsibilities and chores, and while some happen to follow traditional lines (he manages the finances because, duh, banker, while I manage the kitchen because I am an awesome cook and I’m fairly certain he eats Doritos for dinner when I’m traveling on business), it’s not that he needs to feel needed. It’s that we’re all about balancing out each other’s weaknesses and letting the other’s strengths shine.
After reading Kimchee’s statement, I feel for her (I assume her), but willingly ignoring that your experience is not the social or global norm is what’s damaging our ability to move past this third-wave feminist reality that still has not forced enough societal change to avoid debating the legal status of any squatters in my womb.

@PrettyTarHeel-
The dynamic you have with your husband is definitely the ideal and sounds similar to the dynamic in my parents’ marriage.

My experience is different as I’ve lived alone for 14 years, 8 of those years entirely by myself (no roomates). So I’ve learned to do EVERYTHING on my own. At this point, it probably is a source of pride for me but I’m known among my friends and family as someone who refuses to ask for help.

This has become a problem in relationships as men always offer to help me with things and I always insist that they let me do it myself. Again, at 33 I’ve dated a LOT so I’m not just citing one incident-it’s been a repetitive problem for me.

Men AND women both like to feel needed.

Part of why your relationship works is that there is a SHARED responsibility. I doubt it would work so well if it was one person always offering to help and the other person always insisting that they don’t need it.

I mean, yeah, I could just be “charitable” and let the dude help me but then I would feel dependent and somehow like a failure. So maybe it just comes down to an issue of control for me…

@TOK, Believe me, I feel you. I lived alone and managed my life, finances, etc, for several years before I got married. It took a while before I was comfortable letting my husband pay the bills, but finally I realized…holy crap, it’s so stressful, but if I let him do it-no stress. And he likes it-it makes him HAPPY to see balances change. It just stresses me out.

It sounds like you realize you’re doing it, but you also have to find a person worth trusting with some of the responsibilities, and that’s tough. You may not have met the person that you feel safe enough to trust, OR you may need to do some work on your trust issues IF you want that kind of a relationship. But, again, this is all about your experience and what you are doing and how the partner is responding to it. It’s not all men don’t like independent women. It’s the fact that you are extremely independent and do not want shared responsibility. That’s not about men/women…that’s more about not being willing to give up control. There’s NOTHING wrong with the way you are living your life, but it isn’t really men that are the issue. It’s people who want to share the experience or the load will not have a healthy dynamic with someone who isn’t willing to give up part of the weight.

But what the hell do I know? I really don’t know how my relationship is as healthy and open as it is, considering how effed up my emotional maturity was when we met. He’s a brave soul.

@PrettyTarHeel-I was doing so much head-nodding while reading your comment. So very true-everything you said.

I do think that it’s human nature (not necessarily gender-specific) to want to feel needed and not expendable or easily replaceable. We want to feel like we add value to another person’s life. Hell, I love when I can do something, no matter how small, to help a friend. I just don’t like burdening others and I don’t like feeling like I *need* someone to do something for me.

But yeah, sorry for the therapy session. You gave me some excellent advice and some things to think about and I thank you for that.

I think my comment is going to end up in the wrong spot, but oh well. I’m always in awe of women that completely take care of themselves. I moved in with my husband immediately after graduating high school. I can’t imagine living without him, if we ever get divorced I’m screwed! Lol. It is so nice to have someone that helps you, I know he’s picked me up when I’m stranded on the side of the road, opens jars, kills spiders, lifts anything heavy. He is also fixing my car for $500 when I did $1800 worth of damage and fixed our toilet when our child decided to wipe with a wash cloth and flush it.
I hope if you decide to get married Original kitten that you get a gem! I read mom groups online and so many of them complain about having to take care of everything. So many these days won’t even “babysit” their own kids.

I think my earlier statement speaks for itself. You’re encapsulating ALL men in your statement. That’s bullshit. That’s like saying, “All women love shopping for shoes.” Personally, I adore shoes. But it’s a little self-absorbed and insulting to insist that my personal experience is the entire world’s experience. So if your experience is that the men in your life like dumb women…that’s your experience. If you’re talking about men pursuing strippers, perhaps you should be qualifying that statement. “The type of men who pursue strippers like them to act dumb.” Because they are seeking validation that they aren’t getting from the smart women who are busy working their ass off to give him the opportunity to show off his brains, if he has them.

I’ll also be sure to let every man I run into know that they might be doing it wrong, and that you’ve managed to drill down the male experience to simple concept: Men like dumb women.
Frankly, it could be revolutionary.

I’m very sad with the way VS has gone. I remember when I was little and went with my mom to the store it felt like a place just for women. I remember feeling really happy because the floors were pink and the wallpaper was striped and adorned with little gold hearts. I simply could not wait to shop there and buy the pretty bras and pajamas, sure they still had all the in your face sexy stuff, but now all of it is sex. They renovated my local store a while back into this black and white monster. The store shines like a runway event. Even the mannequins changed from normal-ish ones to ones that arch their back and thrust their pelvis forward much like some runway models walk. The store now screams “SEX” as do their ads, inside the fitting rooms the mirrors say “Strip” I thought that was funny at first, but that didn’t last. I think they try to make their customer feel sexy, but I don’t want to be sexy all the time. I want to feel pretty, beautiful, or gorgeous. I see nothing wrong with being sexy, but there is a time and place for it.

I don’t remember their ads from before 2002 or so-so I can’t comment on that, but now the ads seems to be all about the sexy lingerie, not sure if they always were. VS has so much more to offer than just the bedroom wear; they have everyday bras, panties, tops, jeans, pajamas (some of the best pjs in my opinion), and makeup! You wouldn’t even know they had makeup or shampoo if you just watched their ads.

Sidenote-their makeup remover is amazing.

They do have commercials for their everyday bras like the Body by Victoria and Dream Angels, but I’m starting to see less of it. I don’t want them to completely do away with the sexy stuff. I still love their bedroom lingerie (most of their bras can be worn all of the time, but some of it is clearly for fun and this is what i mean by “bedroom wear”), but I do wish that the stores at least could go back to being more about selling gorgeous lingerie, pjs, and their other products and just be overall less in your face with sex when promoting their brand. Having said all of this I still do like VS very much and have their credit card. For the longest time I could only find my size there. I just want to feel pretty when I walk in the store and not like a short wannabe runway model.

It seems like the VS Pink line is more innocuous and cheeky, though still very much focusing on being SEXY. Still sexy, but a “playful” variant of sexy. I get what you mean, though–it’s like, sometimes you just want to buy some cotton undies, not strut around flaunting what you’ve got.

@Annalise Yeah I don’t mind any of it to a certain extent, but like you said I just want to buy some regular panties! They do have them, but the selection is limited. I love the clothing in the catalogue and I wish they sold it in the stores! They sometimes have jeans and a few tops from the catalogue at the outlet stores, but thats it

Way better that they made a humorous ad than one trying to be all serious, especially because none of them can really sing. I thought it was a fun vid and made them more likeable and seemed more down to earth. Good call on the part of their marketing department!